<rant>I saw the new Hobbit movie. They apparently blew the entire budget animating Smaug, because the rest of the movie looked like total crap. The lighting was consistently bad, often to the point of severely breaking immersion. The set design seems to have been done by the company that makes those rubber shopping mall playgrounds. Them copious amounts of CG ranged anywhere between great (Smaug) and downright shameful (liquid gold that looked about appropriate for a 1990s TV show.) There were quite a few of these moments, where something was so obviously added in post that it's just painful to look at. Sometimes this even happens among the main characters, since they obviously went the lazy route and green-screened them together, rather than the meticulous forced perspective shots in Lord of the Rings. For some reason, they tried to pack in an over the top action sequence at least once every five minutes, even though they added nothing to the overall story and completely wrecked the pacing. Remember Legolas's acrobatics in Lord of the Rings? That's pretty much all he does in this movie, just cranked up to 11. Despite being an almost 3 hour movie, the whole thing still felt frantic and rushed. Even the shots of scenery move way too fast and cut frequently. I will say that everything about Smaug was excellent, especially the voice. Also, I saw the movie at 48 fps which I still think is great, though it does take away the normal "cinematic" look you'd get with a 24fps movie.

Overall impression: 4/10, total uninspired crap. I'm just giving it those points because the original story was good (where you can even see it behind all the padding) and the excellent portrayal of Smaug. Peter Jackson, what has happened to you?

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As far as good movies, I saw the new Madoka movie a couple weeks ago. I wasn't expecting all that much beyond awesome animation since the series seemed to wrap everything up, but it was surprisingly good. So good, it's completely surpassed the original series in every way. I'd actually rate it as one of the best (if not the best) movies I've ever seen. Definitely a YMMV thing though, since not everyone would really get it (both plot-wise and context-wise.)

I haven't seen the Hobbit yet, i still want to see it just cause i'm a sci-fi nut.

I just seen the ENDERS GAME yesterday and thought that was a good movie. I think they did a good job on the graphics and all, but i think they should have made the ending more drawn out. It had a very good ending, I'm just saying it should have lasted longer.

I used to have a computer set up without a case, where I'd get a screwdriver and jump the header pins on the motherboard to turn it on. Amazingly, I never did kill that thing by doing that. It finally got replaced by a new build, which has a power button soldered on the motherboard. Still no case. haha.

I used to have a computer set up without a case, where I'd get a screwdriver and jump the header pins on the motherboard to turn it on. Amazingly, I never did kill that thing by doing that. It finally got replaced by a new build, which has a power button soldered on the motherboard. Still no case. haha.

One of my friends had a PC he ran that way for years - was going to get a case but eventually decided not to bother, it worked!

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Save the whales, feed the hungry, free the mallocs.

Sorry to see your having some bad luck man, if i were you i would go to Radio Shack and get you a switch to turn on & off your pc. I wouldn't trust just having it hard wired, but that's just me.

Thanks man. Yeah i'm going to get a switch sometime, but I live in the middle of no mans land, and the next radio shack is about 2 hours away.. But we have some hardware stores around that should carry that kind of stuff. But i'll be honest, this works, and my computer is a such a piece a crap.. if it breaks because of this, i'll almost be happy LOL.

Specs:

6Gb DDR2.
Amd phenom x3 black edition.
Gigabyte something something mobo.
430 watt Thermaltake PSU.
Just sold my great GPU now im back to the Ztoac geforce 210 2gb.
320Gb HDD
ZERO FANS.. Because my case is too small. It just got it's door removed and set next to the window :P

My GODDD...... the new Hobbit in 3D was SO DISGRACEFUL............ the same crappy 3D effects that they had for that 3d musketeer movie recently came out. They didn't go overboard with the story line.... That 3d effects was such garbage to the point my eyes were about to start bleeding.. and really ?????part 3??? seriously, not even 1 segment of LOTR was split up in to parts. Peter Jackson was dropped on his head some time between LOTR and The Hobbit?

My GODDD...... the new Hobbit in 3D was SO DISGRACEFUL............ the same crappy 3D effects that they had for that 3d musketeer movie recently came out. They didn't go overboard with the story line.... That 3d effects was such garbage to the point my eyes were about to start bleeding.. and really ?????part 3??? seriously, not even 1 segment of LOTR was split up in to parts. Peter Jackson was dropped on his head some time between LOTR and The Hobbit?

I wore 2D glasses for that one. I made it maybe ten minutes watching part 1 in 3D. It was seriously the worst 3D I've ever seen in any movie. Even the godawful computer-converted ones looked better.

At least the 3D trend is finally dying. It was a stupid fad anyway, and I'll be very glad to be rid of it. There are so few films that really used it to its potential. I remember seeing an imax film years ago where it seemed to be snowing inside the theater. That's 3D done right.

PSA: when you're going into a 3D movie, grab an extra pair of glasses from the return box. Then pop the left lens from one, the right from the other, then switch them. You should have a pair of glasses with either two left lenses or two right lenses. It helps to bring tape, but I've always managed without. Wear them and your movie is now 2D. Some crosstalk will still be visible, especially when there's high contrast, but it makes the movie so much more bearable.

We have a tender submission tomorrow. Really big project. Thursday I worked +12 hours, yesterday I was suppose to do the same yesterday my day off but I had my cousins wedding and it is much more important than work in my culture so I excused my self. Today it is +12 hours again out of official 8.5 working hours.

Worked continuously for like 24 hours more than once in this company. Construction contracting is really annoying.